at exactly 8:00, miss ross strides through the door, wearing a velvet purple dress and 6 inch silver stilettos covered in glitter. by approximately 8:02, i am a mess once again. i can't focus on anything bur how gorgeous my teacher looks, and i'm constantly yawning due to the fact that i couldn't sleep the previous night due to thinking about my fucking teacher. i silently pray that miss. ross won't notice how distracted i am, but she does and sends me to the nurses office again.
the nurse gives me a weird look when she see me walking in for the second time this week. bailee urie in the nurses office? unheard of. i don't get sick, and i would never waste precious learning time in the nurses office. bailee urie in the nurses office twice in one week? an urban legend.
i finally dose off after about 20 minutes of pure boredom, and i'm asleep for a solid half hour when someone comes to sleep in the cot beside me. it's a girl in my grade i think, but i can't see her face.
"take a picture urie, it'll last longer"
fuck, it's willow. i know her voice anywhere. she turns around and i'm still staring. i mutter an apology when her voice softens.
"can i say something serious?" she asks, surprisingly no hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"if you must" i respond in a bored tone, even thought i'm actually really intrigued by this change of character.
"i don't actually hate you. like, i know all my friends hate you, or act like it. but i think you're cool. also, i've been hating my friends lately, so i was thinking that maybe we could hang out? you probably hate me, why am i even asking? forget i said anything okay?"
i'm speechless. i just blink at her. i always thought i hated her too, but maybe its just her friends that hate her? it's kind of adorable how much shes rambling. her face turns beet red and i realize i haven't answered her yet.
"i actually don't hate you, and i'd love to hang out sometimes. text me?"
"i'd love that" she responds as we exchange numbers. we spend the rest of the morning talking about our problems. she tells me how bad her friends treated her, and how they made her bully me badly. i told her how the bullying affected me, and she apologizes about 100 times during our short time together. we leave the office together with huge smiles on our face and return to 5th period side by side, ignoring all the weird looks and glares.
it looks like willows "friends" have alrrady moved on, as they are sitting beside an attractive girl named bettylynn flowers. i see willows face fall but she remains silent. oh well, i have bigger problems to worry about. like how the love of my life is my teacher and i can't do anything about that. i neglected to tell my new found friend about my secret crush, but i see her face when she catches me staring, and i know she knows whats going on.
the coffee shop i agreed to meet willow in is just a short ways from the school, so i decide to walk. i find a seat and wait for my friend. i turn my head to to the door and in walks a gorgeous, tall figure headed right for my table. she stops at the table beside me instead and takes a seat. i hold my breath, count to 5, and go for it.
"hi! im bailee. i think i see you around school? i go to palo verde." i state in an eager tone.
"nice to meet you bailee, i'm darilynn. i think i've seen you too! you're in ms. hall's class, right?"
i' m about to reply, but my other new tall friend walks in. she gives darilynn a snooty look, and sits down across from me.
"willow! this is darilynn, she goes to palo verde too and i was hoping she could have coffee with us"
"yeah i guess so" willow mumbles sadly while darilynn takes a seat beside me.
"so...darilynn" i start.
"oh please, call me dari" she interrupts.
"so, dari, how come i haven't seen you around school?"
"oh i just moved her last semester, but i've seen willow around a lot with those two girls." willows face sinks in at that, and i give dari a look that says don't talk about that. dari looks away, and willow starts talking.
"i don't really talk to those girls anymore, but don't feel bad, because you didnt know. " she sounds sweet, almost too sweet. dari and i exchange numbers and she excuses herself awkwardly. willow gets up to leave but before she can i grill her.
"okay, you're gonna tell me everything going on with you, gabi, and petunia. because as much as i love our new friendship, i hate seeing you this sad, and maybe talking about it will help you get over them."
she huffs, "okay fine, but you will take this secret to your grave."
i agree, and she begins.
"it started on the first day, when gabi came to me and told me that she liked me. it shocked me at first, because we both know that petunia would ruin our lives if she found out that one of us supported gay people, let alone WAS gay. so we kept it our secret, and eventually i realized that i liked her too, like, a lot. and we started dating in secret, and everything was great until yesterday night. i wanted to come out of the closet and tell people that we were together, but she wasn't ready yet, so we broke things off. i thought everything was fine until i came to school today and saw petunia and gabi talking. gabi told petunia that i was, in her words, 'a filthy dyke' and that i had tried to kiss her last night. i tried telling petunia that what she said was a lie, and that we were both gay and dating each other, but petunia always liked gabi more so together they left me in the dust."
i could see tears in her eyes by the time shes done, and i put my arm around her. i try to tell her that everythings gonna be okay, but she leads me out of the shop and has a good cry on my shoulder on the curb by the road. we sit like that for a bit, and it's nice, but i can't help but wonder what it would be like to hold miss. ross like that.
